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Bits & Bytes

Oregon Cabaret Theatre stages Smokey Joe, Shakespeare Festival readies AIDS fundraiser, new artistic director introduces his 'husband'
By Milton W. Hamlin - SGN A&E Writer Ashland, Oregon: There's no doubt that the Oregon Shakespeare Festival rules this tiny little southern Oregon town. With a nine-month season of 11 plays and attendance approaching 390,000 patrons a year, OSF is one of the largest theater operations in North America. With a budget of more than $23 million and 774 performances this year alone, OSF is a world unto itself. But-and it is a big but-other theaters are alive and well in Ashland and its nearby towns. The Oregon Cabaret Theatre, celebrating its 22nd season, is a main draw for local audiences and-more and more-for tourists and traveling theater fans. Other theaters in the area have strong local support and deserve a look from visiting stage buffs. The summer-long Britt Festival in nearby Jacksonville draws music lovers from all over the Northwest and California. There's a lot to do in Ashland for arts seeking visitors. OSF's upcoming Daedalus Project-a major AIDS fundraiser in August-is a magnet for many GLBT theater fans who plans their annual Ashland visit around the two-day event that raises more than $50,000 each year for AIDS support groups. SGN reviewed the three new outdoor summer offerings two weeks ago. This week, Bits&Bytes takes another look at Ashland and its varied stage events-and OSF's new, openly-Gay artistic director. Like most years, there is a "Seattle connection" to many of the Ashland productions-read on: OCT STAGES SPIRITED SMOKEY JOE'S CAFÉ, CREDITS EMPTY SPACE The Oregon Cabaret Theatre, celebrating its 22nd season, is often considered the Ashland version of "The Little Engine That Could." When it started its life in an old abandoned church near OSF, few thought OCT would survive its first season of light-weight musicals and musical revues. Now, 22 years later, many in town turn to OCT for fun theater outings and leave the "heavy weight drama" to OSF. With overlapping patron support, both organizations do what they do and do it well. The just opened Smokey Joe's Café is a case in point. The talented, multi-racial cast zips through the songbook of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller with great verve and snappy style. Leiber and Stoller, two white Jewish boys from the East Coast, met as teenagers when both families moved to Los Angeles in 1950. Individually, both young men were greatly influenced by the work of African American musicians, then often limited to R&B charts and other "race music" outlets. Recording executives were amazed that these two songwriters were so young-and white. When they wrote their first two big hits, "(I'm Goin' To) Kansas City" and "Hound Dog," they were under 18 and their parents had to sign the legal documents that made them teenage millionaires. (Rock & Roll buffs know that Big Mama Thornton's early version of "Hound Dog" was a huge hit on R&B charts but later became a mainstream mega-hit for a very young Elvis Presley.) The 1950's juke box hits of Leiber & Stoller continued-often month after month. The Coasters turned "Yakety Yak," "Searchin'," "Young Blood," "Charlie Brown," "Poison Ivy" into million-selling smash hits. The Drifters had hits with "There Goes My Baby" and "On Broadway." Even Peggy Lee hit gold with "I'm A Woman-W-O-M-A-N" and the untypical "Some Cats Know." Elvis had hit after hit with "Jailhouse Rock," "Don't," "Love Me," "Loving You" and "Treat Me Nice." The high energy, high talent cast at Oregon Cabaret Theatre strings these hits into an audience-pleasing trip down memory lane. Smokey Joe's Café, the longest running revue in Broadway history, has always been a kaleidoscopic whirl of early rock 'n' roll hits. Jim Giancarlo, OCT's artistic director, first saw the show in New York in 1995 and "knew that someday I would direct it for the Cabaret." His stylish production gets everything right. OCT graciously acknowledges Smokey Joe's Café start in Seattle at the sadly missed Empty Space Theatre, conceived and directed by its (then) artistic director, M. Burke Walker. While Smokey Joe's Café used an ill-advised concept in its original Space production (Walker and company tried to shoehorn the rock and roll hits into a "plot" musical set in the title song's venue), the 1990 Empty Space revue sparked the composers' interest in a "jukebox" revue that ended up as Broadway's smash hit in 1995. A good illustration of the symbiotic relationship of all theaters in the Northwest surfaces in OCT's production. Darcy Danielson, OCT's musical director, and now an Ashland resident with many musical credits at OSF, was the vocal director and arranger at Empty Space on the original Smokey Joe's in Seattle. Oregon Cabaret Theatre has a huge hit with Smokey Joe's Café. It continues through Sept 2 with evening performances plus the very popular Sunday brunch matinee. In a clever programming decision, OCT takes Tuesday night off, giving visiting Ashland theater fans a chance to see the spirited OCT shows on Monday night when the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is "dark." Bits&Bytes tries to squeeze in a Cabaret visit on every Ashland trip-it's always great fun and often the perfect contrast to more staid, classical outings. Guys On Ice, OCT's season opener last February, was a major highlight of this scribe's Ashland visit for the winter OSF shows. I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, opening in mid-September, should be another hit for the hardworking company. The long running off-Broadway revue, still a smash in New York in its second decade, has hit written all over it for OCT. OCT's holiday show, Forever Plaid--Plaid Tidings, opening Nov. 16, is another highly anticipated revue that brings back the "squeaky-clean 1960's guy group" for one more outing. All shows at OCT are offered as part of a dinner theater package or on a "show only" basis. Each year, the food at OCT just gets better and better. Bits&Bytes sampled OCT's brunch menu for Smokey Joe's Café. Choices included Eggs Benedict, Smoked Salmon Benedict, Eggs Benedict Florentine, a Scramble du Jour, a Vegetarian Quiche, a Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich or a Fruit and Cheese Plate-all at a very reasonable $9.95. Desserts-at $6-included the cabaret's famous Dick Hay Ice Cream Pie, a OCT tradition of sinfully rich "mud pie" and peanut butter, topped with hot fudge sauce. A basic "American Breakfast"-scrambled eggs, potatoes and toast-was fine. Bits&Bytes' guest enjoyed the Vegetarian Quiche. Both of us opted for a light dessert-raspberry sorbet with fresh summer fruit. Our server, Amanda, kept the coffee coming with a smile on her face-typical of OCT's hardworking service crew. Complete information on all OCT offerings is available at (541) 488-2902. OSF STUMBLES WITH MUSICAL TRACY'S TIGER, SHOW DIVIDES AUDIENCE The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is committed to the development of new scripts. Not content to live in a theatrical past, and not limited to works by William Shakespeare and other "classic" playwrights, new works are commissioned regularly and often prove to the highlights of the nine-month season. Alas, the new Tracy's Tiger, a whimsical chamber musical adapted from short works by William Saroyan, is (to put it politely) "not quite ready for prime time." As a new musical script in a workshop staging, Tracy's Tiger could be interesting and entertaining. As a fully produced work, the show is sadly lacking. Created by four authors-all OSF veterans (including director Penny Metropulos)-a lot of effort went into the show. While the show has strong support from some audiences, the production is the only one in recent history that, according to several Ashland residents, "clearly divides the audience." Some love it, many hate it. This scribe couldn't wait for it to end-and he loves musicals and openly supports new ones, no matter how lame. The show is highly derivative. It uses the divided-ego concept of City Of Angels, the abrasive elements of Urinetown, the whimsy of&.well, you get the idea. OSF gets high praise for staging a new work. OSF gets a hand slapping for keeping it in-house. Certainly, Tracy's Tiger cannot be the best new musical looking for a full production. Seattle's Bruce Monroe, a veteran of Village Theatre, ACT, Seattle Children's Theatre and 5th Avenue Theatre productions for more than 15 years, created the orchestrations for Tracy's Tiger. While it's his first OSF work, it surely won't be his last. Monroe, who is married to Seattle Times movie critic Moira MacDonald, reportedly "had a blast" working on the new show. TWO SUMMER SHOWS COMPLETE OSF SEASON Since OSF works on a rotating repertoire, openings occur during much of the season. Two July openings complete OSF's 2007 season. Lisa Loomer's powerful Distracted, which had its world premiere in March of this year, just opened at OSF's intimate New Theatre. While the show address Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) in children, the play by the exciting young playwright goes beyond the "disease of the week" format. It continues through the end of the season, closing Oct. 28. OSF's last title of the summer, Moliere's classic tale of hypocrisy, Tartuffe, opens July 25 and continues through Oct. 27. Peter Amster, a frequent OSF visitor with a track record of stylish productions of classic comedies, directs an all-star OSF cast. Can't wait. DAEDALUS PROJECT, AIDS FUNDRAISER, RETURNS AUGUST 20 OSF's annual AIDS fundraiser, The Daedalus Project, is set for Monday, Aug. 20 this year. The community-wide event, which has some events on Sunday, Aug. 19, raises more than $50,000 for AIDS and AIDS support projects. Many GLBT theater fans plan their summer visit to Ashland around the AIDS event. Call (800) 219-8161 toll-free for complete OSF information on the Daedalus Project and all OSF productions. NEW ARTISTIC DIRECTOR INTRODUCES HIS 'HUSBAND,' TALKS ABOUT HIS PLANS Bill Rauch, OSF's incoming artistic director, was chatting with Bits&Bytes about his New York production of The Clean House (reviewed by this scribe for SGN last December) when he casually asked, "Have you met my husband&.?" Rauch is "happily married" to an actor involved in a hit cable TV series but "with hopes" of appearing at OSF in the future. The two men, who both look 14 years old, have been together more than 20 years. "We met at 19 and 21 and have together ever since," Rauch laughed. The talented director, with five years of guest productions at OSF, takes full charge for the 2008 season. The men have two multi-race adopted children-"young-both under seven!"-and are still unpacking in their new Ashland home. Details in a future Bits&Bytes. OTHER ASHLAND STAGE EVENTS While OSF and OCT are the two big groups in Ashland, other theaters seem to thrive. On Bits&Bytes' mid-June trip, The Elephant Man was offered by Oregon Stage Works, the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra was due for a one-night concert at OSF's Elizabethan Theatre, the Britt Festival in near-by Jacksonville was gearing up for a full summer run of classical music and pop concerts and a production of The Wizard of Oz had recently ended its run for family audiences. Theatre, obviously is alive and well in Ashland. Check it out.

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